Contra Costa Air Quality

Posts Tagged "traffic"

With 2017 just around the corner, we rounded up new laws impacting vehicle & traffic safety we thought you should know about. All of these laws take effect on January 1, 2017.
Cell Phone (Electronic Wireless Device) Usage: It will be illegal to hold a cell phone (or other wireless electronic device) while operating a motor vehicle. Phones and devices will need to be mounted on the dashboard or windshield, and may only be operated by hand when activating or deactivating a feature or function can be done with “a single swipe or tap of the driver’s finger” (View full text of AB 1785)
School Bus Safety: All school buses, school pupil activity buses, youth buses & child care motor vehicles used to transport school-age children will be required to have a “child safety alert system”.... Read the rest

Caltrans District 4 has scheduled the following lane and ramp closures for the Interstate 680 Mococo Overhead Bridge Rehabilitation Project:
On-Ramp Closures
The Marina Vista on-ramp to southbound I-680 will be closed:
Thursday night, March 26, from 6pm-6am
6pm Friday night, March 27 until 12pm Saturday, March 28
Lane/Shoulder Closures at the Marina Vista/Waterfront Road Interchange:
One northbound lane will be closed from 8pm Friday, March 27 to 5am Monday, March 30
The left shoulder of southbound I-680 will be closed from 8pm Friday, March 27 through 5am Monday, March 30
Upcoming Closure of Southbound I-680 Off-Ramp to Marina Vista/Waterfront Road
In late April 2015 Caltrans will close the southbound off-ramp from I-680 to Marina Vista/Waterfront Road.... Read the rest

In late January, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission unveiled their new Vital Signs website. Drawing from over 20 years of data, the website offers interactive, customizable charts and graphs on various aspects of transportation in the Bay Area. According to the MTC, the idea behind the project is to allow Bay Area residents, “to track the region’s progress toward reaching key transportation, land use, environmental and economic policy goals.” The MTC plans to add land use and economic development data to the site in the spring and data relating to environmental and safety questions in the summer.... Read the rest

Traffic Alert for Buskirk Avenue beginning June 26, 2014
1) The new roadway section on the east side of Buskirk Avenue between Crossroads and Clarie Drive will now be open to one lane for northbound traffic.
2) The new Hookston Road section (old Elmira Drive) between Hookston Road and Clarie Drive will now be open to one lane of traffic in each direction.
3) Hookston Road between Old Elmira Drive and Buskirk Ave will be permanently closed to through traffic, this will allow for construction of the underground and storm basin facilities and a new mini-park in this area.... Read the rest

Photo credit: vision63
In just about every major American metropolitan region, and especially here in the Bay Area, streets are congested – and contested – spaces. Increasingly cities are reallocating mixed-traffic lanes to accommodate bicycling, and while this makes it safer for the cyclists, it can affect the traffic flow by reducing the number of lanes available for motorists, transit, and goods movement. Encouraging more cycling through the creation of dedicated bicycle infrastructure may be a wise investment in the long-term, but the short-term pains it causes some commuters has given rise to the use of phrases such as “anti-car” and “war on drivers.”
Do people on bikes cause or relieve congestion?... Read the rest

Note: TrafficCOM is now known as WayCount.
Are you curious to know how weather affects the number of people that use the new bike lane in the neighborhood? Or how traffic patterns change during summer break? Anecdotal observations are useful in finding the answer to these questions but sometimes nothing compares to having data at hand.Getting the data just got a little easier with the arrival of TrafficCOM – a device available to the public that counts and monitors the speed and rate of traffic.... Read the rest